


The Finer Points of Alien-Rabbit Courtship

by Okikage



Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Past Ombric/Bunny, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3484064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okikage/pseuds/Okikage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Frost has plans to woo a certain giant rabbit. Too bad 'looks like a giant rabbit' doesn't always translate to 'acts like a giant rabbit'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - Setting Myself up for Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fill attempt for this K-meme prompt: http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/3036.html?thread=6695388
> 
> Jack goes to tell his bff and First Believer about a new personal revelation: he totally wants to date Bunny. Who is...a bunny. This will involve learning about bunnies, won't it?

Jamie Bennett, age 34, was driving home from work when the first few flakes of fluffy snow began to fall. The day had been long and stressful, with several issues involving his latest book, but just seeing the change of weather brought a smile and sparkle back into his eyes. He was torn throughout the commute between speeding home for who was surely visiting and staying safe on the newly freezing roads, grabbing his portfolio haphazardly and bounding up the steps to his front door, bursting in with a resounding yell of, “I’m home!”

“Daddy!” Jamie’s daughter Emma leapt off a dining room chair and skipped toward him, throwing her little 5-year-old arms in the air demanding a hug.

“Hey princess, how was your day?”

“It was good! Pop-pop and I had a tea party and I drew a picture for Miss Tooth and Uncle Jack came to visit! He said he came to see you about somethin’,” Emma rapid-fired at Jamie as he picked her up and headed into the kitchen.

“Welcome home,” Jamie’s husband smiled as he chopped some vegetables. “It looks like the weather heard about work running you ragged, I doubt you’ll get in tomorrow.”

“Nope!” Jamie laughed, setting Emma down on one of the kitchen stools, giggling along with him. “Where’s the person responsible for that?”

“He’s in the den, but he’s acting kind of weird? I asked what’s up but he just brushed me off, said he _had_ to talk to you.”

Jamie’s eyes squinted as he threw a sidelong glance to the door. “That’s...weird, yeah. I’ll go see what’s up.”

As Jamie entered the den, he found Jack fidgeting with the bookshelves, leaving little sworls of frost along the wood grain as he tapped on each book spine with his index finger.

“It’s a wonder nothing in our house has water damage, you know.”

Jack gasped, jolting around and clutching his staff to his chest, the frost dissipating into the air. “Jamie! It’s really good to see you.”

“Woah, you totally sidestepped joking with me. You okay?” Jamie furrowed his brow and moved next to Jack, placing a hand on his scrunched in shoulder. It still surprised him how small Jack looked now, it seemed like yesterday when he towered over Jamie before his growth spurt. One day Jack was larger than life, an ethereal being straight out of Jamie’s imagination, and the next he was a short, waif-like kid in comparison to himself.

Jack was also scarily quiet at this particular moment, an impenetrable silence falling between the two. Jamie opened his mouth to say something, anything when -

“So I think I maybe, kinda-sorta, really _really_ like Bunny,” Jack blurted out in one long stream of noise.

“...Really?” was Jamie’s eloquent response.

Jack’s face was completely frosted over as he pushed Jamie away with one hand. “Yes, really!”

“Okay.”

Jack, who had been braced and guarded before, uncurled from his attempt to turn into a ball while standing. He stared at Jamie, a contemplative look on his face as he rolled his staff between his palms. Jamie merely flopped himself down in a plush chair and crossed his legs, giving Jack a pointed ‘go on’ look.

“...Well?” Jack hastily hiccuped out.

“Well what?”

“You’re not freaking out at the level you’re supposed to be right now, you know that, right? I just told you I’m in love with _Bunny_!”

“Oh, so you’ve escalated to love now? No more really really liking?”

Jack huffed and crossed his arms. “Why are you so _smug_ about this?”

“Because I noticed about 10 years ago?”

Jack actually squawked and floated a few feet into the air at that, his hair spiking up with the embarrassed frost covering his face.

“Don’t you remember? Ten years ago, you told me about how Bunny apologized to you. You didn’t even mention anything but how great it felt,” Jamie explained, pulling Jack into a long-ago memory.

 

_“Oi, Frostbite!” Jack heard Bunny’s voice carry above the softly falling snow, with a tint of snark. “How ya going?”_

_Jack smiled and swung to a lower tree branch, handing upside down so he and Bunny were eye-to-eye. “I’m ‘going’ pretty good! This snow should be perfect for sledding tomorrow morning.”_

_“That’s right, then,” Bunny smiled, but he kept glancing down. Jack would have called it nervous, except the word didn’t sound right for Bunny. Ever._

_Bunny was embarrassed and shy and sometimes afraid, but nervous? No._

_“So what brings you to Montana in January?” Jack joked, flipping back right-side-up as he swung his staff to his shoulders._

_“Well…” Bunny now seemed to be fiddling with something behind his back. “I realized while talking to North after his Armenian run, that I never. Actually apologized. For assuming the worst o’ you that one Easter.”_

_Jack’s whole face frosted over, mostly because he for the life of him couldn’t tell if Bunny meant ‘68 or ‘12._

_“So this is something that we - that Pooka -” Bunny trailed off so low that Jack didn’t quite catch the last word. “This is something I do to apologize.”_

_Bunny flourished an egg-shaped wreath, covered in flowers. Most striking were the gigantic blossoms, all varying colors and shapes, decorating pivotal points along the oval design, with smaller flowers spattered between them, the stems and leaves woven together to create the wreath itself. Even the roots were intact, hanging behind the gorgeous display._

_“You can plant it somewhere if you want. That sort of symbolizes...that you accept my apology.”_

_Jack reverently took the wreath in his hands, drinking in the delicate beauty, rubbing a strangely glossy red petal between his fingers._

_“Bunny...this is gorgeous,” Jack stared at the large, yellow flower at the apex of the egg shape. It almost looked like a sunflower, with something just a little bit off to Jack’s eyes. “But why?”_

_Bunny sighed, scratching the back of his head with one of his claws. “You’re gonna make me actually say it aren’t ya?”_

_“Maaaybe,” Jack turned on his usual charm, but was just mostly confused._

_“Look, I’m sorry that I thought you’d gone off with Pitch. I’ve known him for ages - literally - and I just. Should’ve realized what happened. He always messes with people like that,” Bunny’s ears had slowly flattened against his skull as he stuttered through the apology._

_Jack’s eyes darkened. “I let him trick me.”_

_“No, Jack,” Bunny put a paw on Jack’s shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t start thinking like that. We’ve all been there, Pitch is really good at messing with people.”_

_Jack scrunched in on himself, hugging the wreath to his chest as he stared down at the slowly disappearing earth, piling up with snow. “Thank you.”_

_Bunny crossed his arms and looked away. “Don’t mention it. Really. Especially not in front of North.”_

_Jack actually laughed at that. “Uh, so, are these going to be okay if I go plant them now? They don’t really look like winter flowers.”_

_Bunny merely scoffed and pounded the ground once, flowers springing up around him, earning a good-natured punch from Jack._

_“Okay, show-off, how about we race back to my pond?”_

_“You’re on, mate,” Bunny bounded off, Jack flying high into the air above him._

 

“You came over and just started gushing about the flowers Bunny gave you. You wanted me to come out and see them! At 3 in the morning! That was when I knew you had it bad.”

Jack shuffled back and forth and covered his face with his hands. “They are really nice flowers.”

“Oh!” Jamie jumped up from his chair and grabbed Jack’s hands, pulling them down and away from his face. “And what about the time you waxed poetic about how Bunny paints after he taught you? Or when you went googly-eyed over him agreeing to teaching him how to make snow sculptures with you?”

“Shut uuup,” Jack groaned deeply, “am I really that obvious?”

“Only to me. I think,” Jamie laughed at his friend, relaxing away from Jack and leaning against a bookcase. “But really, why was it so important I know this?”

“Uhh, because you’re like my best friend, duh? And also I was hoping you…” Jack mumbled some more words into his fist.

“Hoping what now?” Jamie leaned down toward Jack just a bit.

“Well, he’s a giant rabbit, right? so I thought he’d probably have different, relationship signals? And I know you used to have a bunch of rabbit behavior books from back when Sophie got her first bunny and some of them were yours specifically -”

“Woah, okay!” Jamie lightly slapped Jack’s back, laughing at Jack’s current penchant to talking way too fast. “Why didn’t you just go to Soph if you wanted some rabbit books?”

Jack gave Jamie a dark look. “Sophie is not to be trusted with this sensitive information.”

“Oh come on, she isn’t 15 anymore!”

Jack shuddered at even the mention of the Incident, when Tooth had gone to talk to Sophie about her wisdom tooth surgery and what to do to keep her teeth healthy, accidentally letting slip about a crush on North. Subsequently, North received several strange letters next Christmas begging Santa to please ask the Tooth Fairy out on a date, Sophie’s the most emphatic.

Just because it had worked out in the end didn’t mean Tooth wasn’t embarrassed for weeks, mostly due to Jack’s own teasing, and Jack was _not_ putting himself in a position for revenge from the excitable fairy.

“Please don’t tell her, Jamie. She can...get excited or whatever after it works out, okay?” Jack’s face dropped into a terrified, pleading look.

Jamie sighed, but turned and walked toward the stairs. “Alright, I think I’ve got some books in the attic.”

“Thanks a lot,” Jack smiled and floated after him, having regained some of his exuberance at dodging the Sophie-Knowing Problem.

Jamie uncovered an old, dusty box labeled merely with the cryptic ‘Animals’ which contained two books, _Understanding your Rabbit: An In-Depth look at Rabbit Behavior and Body Language_ and _The Care and Raising of Rabbits_. “You can keep those, given that I haven’t looked at them in ages…”

“Really?” Jack beamed at Jamie. “Thank you so much, this really means a lot to me, Jamie.”

“Well, to be honest I’m not sure how much they’ll help? From what I remember, Bunny doesn’t really act like much of a rabbit?”

Jack laughed and stage-whispered conspiratorially in Jamie’s direction. “He doesn’t act like much of a human either.”

Jamie, unable to argue with that, snickered and swung his arms around Jack’s shoulders. “You go win that weird bunny’s heart, alright?”


	2. Circling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Circling - if your rabbit is circling around your feet, chances are it really likes you! Circling is a courting behavior found in wild rabbits, that is often accompanied by soft honking." - excerpt from The Care and Raising of Rabbits

Frost was following him.

Frost had been following him for _four hours_ , while he was trying to garden.

He wasn’t even hiding, like he was setting up a practical joke or trick, he just kept circling around him, getting incrementally closer each time.

It was weird, even for him.

On this pass, Bunny’s ears picked up just the slightest humming coming from Frost’s direction, and that was the last straw.

“What on Earth are ya doin’, Frostbite?” Bunny yelled out to Jack, jabbing his spade into the ground with just a little more force than necessary

“Oh, y’know…” Jack sidled forward with lidded eyes, a worry that something was wrong with them fluttering through Bunny’s mind. “Just...circling.”

The weight with which Jack said such a simple word set Bunny’s hackles on edge.

“O...kay,” he slurred out, unsure exactly how to deal with a Frost who wasn’t bouncing around trying to stave off boredom through mild vandalism when in the Warren.

“So are you alright with this?” Jack looked confident in...something, his chest puffed out and an excited glint in his eyes.

“Why wouldn’t I be? You aren’t planning some sort of joke, are you? Just don’t hurt the plants with that cold of yours and we’ll be apples.” Bunny went back to his work in the middle of talking, and missed the disappointment that crossed Jack’s face.

“I’m serious about this,” Jack flew to Bunny, crouching down to look him in the eyes. “I promise. I’m being serious.”

Bunny tried to process what, exactly, Jack was proclaiming he was so serious about. Was he finally going to stop playing ‘how much cold can that grass _actually_ stand?’ or not pulling pranks anymore in general? He tried not to think about how a pit in his stomach expanded at that last thought.

“I know you probably need to think about this, and I should go change some autumn leaves, but I’ll come back tomorrow, if that’s cool with you?”

“Uh, that’s fine, mate,” Bunny responded in stilted tones, feeling like he was missing a big part of the conversation but unable to put a finger on it. It wasn’t like Jack didn’t come around almost every day in their off seasons anyway to enjoy the southern winter he didn’t work with.

It was a little strange he was going to keep coming though, since it was changing to fall in the north.

As Jack sped off to the North American tunnel system, Bunny poured himself back into his work; scoop a shallow hole, place the seed, cover with a thin layer of soil, water, try to forget about the weird way Jack was acting.

Scoop, place, cover, water.

Four hours.

Scoop, place, cover, water.

Why did he make circling sound so...important?

 

The next day again found Jack in the Warren, moving around Bunny in wide, slow, careful arcs.

Today also included intense staring that Bunny could _feel_ happening even as he tore into his egg seeding. The humming Jack sometimes belted out seemed to be louder as well.

“Hey, Jack?” Bunny called, turning to see Jack standing at attention, continuing his intense stare with an expectant air.

“Yeah?” Jack was literally bouncing up and down on his toes, Bunny was surprised he wasn’t floating away.

“Could you maybe not stare at me so much? It’s weird.”

Jack’s entire demeanor changed in a flash, breaking his eyes off to the side. “Oh. Sorry. Should I go?”

“What? You don’t have to,” Bunny stood up from where he knelt in the soft dirt, brushing a few clumps from the long hairs around his knee. “But you can go if you want, I never pegged you as interested in gardening.”

“What are you talkin’ about? I love gardening!” Jack put a little too much emphasis in his voice, earning a deadpan look from his exasperated companion. Bunny crossed his arms, just about done with whatever was going on with Jack.

“...Okay, it’s kind of slow and boring. But I really do like being here with you.”

Bunny tried not to think about how that admission made one of his hearts feel light as air. Jack was staring at him, completely different from the earlier stares, intensity replaced by fidgeting and worry.

“Well I’m just about done with this patch, and I think I can afford taking a couple hours off since it’s still early days if you wanted to do something?”

Jack beamed up at Bunny, “Would you like to play a game I came up with?”

 

Jack ended up leading Bunny to the outskirts of Melbourne, the suburban roofs stretching out and surrounding the skyscrapers along the skyline.

“So I haven’t done this in the daytime like this yet, since I’ve just played against Sandy and Tooth. Though it’s not super challenging with Tooth because of how late she collects into the night.”

Bunny followed behind Jack’s bounding steps, leaving dustings of frost every few feet when he actually landed on the ground, flying up to sit on the edge of one of the short fences separating the closest house’s yard.

“What is it, exactly?” Bunny drawled out.

“It’s kind of like a real-life stealth video game, the two of us race from here to somewhere downtown trying to avoid being seen by any kids. You lose points whenever someone sees you, but since we’ll probably lose track of each other while running it’s really an honor system. Can I trust you on that, Bunny?” Jack rested his chin on his fist, flashing a smile.

“I’m no cheater, mate. But I do see myself having a distinct disadvantage in this game over you three.”

“That’s the last rule! You can’t fly more than 20 feet above the ground.” Jack paused, giving Bunny an once-over. “Should probably add a ‘no tunnels’ rule for you.”

Bunny chuckled. “Would be a tad bit unfair, just immediately popping up at the finish line, wouldn’ it?”

“So let’s do it!” Jack jumped down into a sprinter’s start position, shooting eager glances in Bunny’s direction.

And was he...no, there’s was no way Bunny saw him wiggling his backside. He crouched down into his own start position, legs wound and ready. “Know where Eureka Tower is?”

Jack nodded once in reply.

“Ready...go!” Jack shouted as he jumped into the sky, skimming over the fences and into the quiet streets.

Bunny leapt into the air, ricocheting off a nearby wall and hitting the pavement harshly. Already Jack had disappeared, on his way to the finish line, and Bunny had to win. He had a reputation to keep, after all, and this was just another race with a few extras thrown in. He pounded down the road, plotting his way through the roads and alleys of the sprawling metropolis.

Children were all over the place, having finished school for the day, and Bunny nearly ran straight into an entire softball team, having to run along an alley wall to get up and avoid the line of sight of a passing bus.

In the end, he managed to avoid being seen by anyone, though there were some seriously close calls. He cursed his rustiness as he landed in front of the Tower, looking around for Jack.

“Bunny! Over here!” he heard Jack calling from just above his right ear, but saw nothing. Just then, Jack’s hand poked out of what looked like thin air and he waved. Bunny padded toward what turned out to be a clever series of mirrors Jack had apparently set up.

“So using camouflage isn’t illegal, then?”

“Nope! Perfectly acceptable way of hiding,” Jack beamed up at him from where he sat cross-legged on the hard asphalt.

“I take it no one saw you then?”

“Of course not! I’m very good at this game. What about you, conspicuous giant bunny?”

Bunny scoffed and flopped down next to Jack in his bizarre camouflage tent. “Of course no one saw me. In the 4 billion years I’ve been on this planet, I’ve never let anything I didn’t want to see me.”

Jack’s head whipped around, his eyes going wide. “4 _billion_ years? What are you talking about?”

Oh. Jack didn’t know about that? He could have sworn his past had come up, but then again he tended to avoid those topics the past several hundred years.

“Yeah, I’ve been here since the Moon Clipper crashed and became just the Moon,” Bunny, for some reason, gestured up to the blue afternoon sky. “Was here earlier than that for a bit, but that was just to even the rotation out so Earth wouldn’t decay and fall into the sun.”

Bunny looked over to see Jack staring at him and balking, his mouth wide. “I thought - I thought you were just some special bunny the Moon found?”

Bunny burst into laughter, wiping at his eyes as they watered from the hilarity. “That’s actually not a bad description.”

When Bunny came down from the laughter (still a weird feeling to him) he felt a pressure on his side. Jack was leaning against him. And petting his arm?

“Jack?” Bunny said, Jack’s hand stilling.

“Is this okay?” he wasn’t looking at him anymore, apparently finding his own feet most interesting.

“Yes?” Bunny wracked his memories and knowledge, trying to think of what that meant. He knew Jack sometimes just needed some physical contact, but the petting was a little weird. If it helped Jack out, though, he could deal.

 

Bunny didn’t see Jack again for another three days, busy with increased nightly frostings as the weather turned. Bunny found himself missing the comforting presence, and reminder to occasionally stop work and have a little fun, that Jack had brought to him, even if the hovering was a little incessant.

Which explained why his ears perked up at the first sign of a cool breeze flowing through the Warren, snapping his head up and scanning for more signs of the snowy-haired spirit.

“Jackie! How ya going, mate?”

“Pretty good!” Jack flew in and landed about 10 feet away, starting his odd, even circular motions around Bunny once again. “How’s the planting?”

“You know how it is, we’re getting along. Did you just want to watch me garden some more, or are you gonna help me out?” Bunny joked, waving a spade in Jack’s direction.

Jack lit up at that, marching forward and plopping down next to Bunny, weird lidded eyes from the first day of all this back again. “I would _love_ to help.”

“Alright,” Bunny handed Jack the extra spade he’s brought just in case and a small woven basket full of egg seeds. “You can do that row of the egg plants.”

“Wait,” Jack stared at the implements in his hand. “We’re...actually gardening?”

“Yes? What the bloody hell else would we do? I just asked if you wanted to help!”

“I thought you meant - ! Never mind, sure, let’s plant some seeds,” Jack's expression turned miserable, but he still began digging out shallow depressions for the seeds.

While Jack worked, Bunny could no longer concentrate, staring at Jack’s dejected face. Everything was so confusing; where were these emotions coming from? He recognized the _what_ but not the _why_.

_(He doesn’t **understand** )_

It had been a long time since emotions had confounded him so.

It was as if he was stuck, unable to address whatever was happening with Jack or ignore it and keep working. He lost at least an hour of work pretending he wasn’t staring to the side, watching as Jack frowned into the soil, tapping against his tucked knees and fidgeting as if he was incapable of staying still.

Jack continued this fidgeting all the way to the end of the day, twirling his staff and casting fervent glances Bunny’s direction.

“...Jack?” Bunny finally attempted to bridge the awkward silence.

“Bunny, do you…” Jack finally stopped moving, staring at the ground. “Do you actually...you know what, never mind, bye.” And he was off, riding the wind away from a very befuddled Pooka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the wonderful comments, everyone! Confusing Bunny is one of my favorite past-times, and embarrassing Jack is always entertaining.
> 
> ...Someone should really explain Bunny's backstory to Jack, though, huh?


	3. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is getting tired of Bunny running hot-and-cold on him. Maybe it's time to involve some of the others guardians.  
> North is a good one to ask for advice, right?

Today was the day.

Today he was going to get Bunny to kiss him. Or at least the rabbit-equivalent, nuzzling sounded nice.

He’d settle for the weird chewing thing he read about, to be honest.

He was just sick of being stuck with this friendliness followed by complete rebuffing! Bunny would just tell him if he wasn’t interested, right? He’d...tell him, they were at least friends.

Maybe, since he was trying to change things, he had to start over in the indifferent stage while Bunny sized him up.

Rabbits were complicated, Bunny being an ancient, sentient one probably complicated that even further.

He stared at his hands, finger flexing intermittently, before shooting off, frosting a few lawns he passed in the early morning just before sunrise and diving down into a conveniently placed rabbit hole.

Jack found Bunny laid out on a patch of long grass, asleep. He smirked, and started sculpting delicate ice sculptures all around the prone rabbit, starting with random spirals and shapes but then branching out into recreating an entire bedroom of ice around Bunny. He was just finishing up a fancy chandelier when he heard rustling from below.

He didn’t even notice that Bunny slept on his back.

“What the - FROST!” Bunny shot up, glaring down a particularly floral arrangement of icicles in a clear vase. “What did you _do_?”

“Just a little bit of redecorating,” Jack hung down from the swaying chandelier, sparks in his eyes.

“Well get rid of it! I sleep here.”

“Awww, but I made this bedroom just for you! You wound me, Bunny.”

Bunny rolled to his feet, giving Jack an unimpressed look as he padded the perimeter of the ice room, searching for a door. Jack let out another laughing fit, earning his second glare of the day.

Bunny’s glares were really cute, all big green eyes and pouty fur and shaking ears.

Bunny’s face shifted into a smirk, and he drawled, “You do realize you’ve trapped yourself in here with me?”

“Yes, that was the general idea,” Jack pushed off with his legs, turning the icy fixture into a swing.

“So what was the plan after that?” Bunny huffed and crossed his arms.

“Grooming!” Jack took a flying leap off his makeshift swing, sliding across the far ice wall before coming to a stop right in front of Bunny.

Who just stared at him.

And stared.

“Wot.”

Please, please, please.

“You know…” Jack stuttered, losing his bravado. “I could...brush your fur?”

Jack found himself staring at Bunny’s feet, hoping for something good, a ‘yes’, a ‘sure’, a ‘oh Jack, _swoons into his arms_ ’. Instead… “Wot.”

Jack gripped his hair, face turning purple from the embarrassment. This was it, the full rejection, he was gonna have to go crawl into a hole for the whole winter…

Bunny cleared his throat. “I, I guess you can do that? This isn’t some human treating me like a pet thing, though, is it?”

“No!!” Jack’s head snapped up and he finally made eye contact. “I just really like you.”

“Well, it’s just, this is kind of a... _thing_ for me? Culturally?”

“I know!” Jack nodded. Finally, he was getting through!

“...How do you _know_?” Bunny was eyeing him warily.

“I - I just,” Jack’s eyes darted around, he was _not_ admitting about the books. “You know, these things just come up sometimes!”

“Sooo...you honestly _want_ to groom me?”

Jack nodded, clutching his staff and rocking back and forth just a little bit.

“Awright,” Bunny flopped down on the floor, Jack following along and settling beside him, putting his staff just off to the side.

Combing Bunny’s fur was really nice. Jack couldn’t believe his luck, “Perfectly Executed Prank and Finally Doing SOMETHING With Crush” feelings of euphoria rushing through him. His fur was soft and long and the mottled gray-black-white that made flower-like designs was so beautiful. Bunny was saying something about courage and it sort of sounded like a question but Jack was a little distracted.

And he kind of wanted to bury his face in Bunny’s chest ruff.

So he went for it.

Bunny stiffened beside him, paws mechanically grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back.

Jack only then remembered, ‘you shouldn’t pet your rabbit under his chin, it is taken as a sign of aggression.’ Oh shit. Ooooh shit.

“What the bloody hell, Jack?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sooo sorry,” Jack turned into an icicle, eyes wide.

Bunny...didn’t look like he was about to murder him. That was good. He was staring at him pretty intently, though, one ear shaking a bit.

“What was that for?” Bunny’s voice didn’t _sound_ too mad.

“It was stupid, I know, I’m sorry.”

“But why did you do -” Bunny cut himself off, sniffing Jack’s hair, and rocketed back three feet. Jack also fell back from the sudden loss of pressure on his shoulders, tensing up and frantically searching for his staff, ready to bolt if something bad happened.

“You’re scared,” Bunny said, not even seeming to see or be talking to Jack. “You’re scared...of me?”

Jack blew away on the Wind, the whole ice room sublimating into the air.

He didn’t bother directing where the Wind took him, ending up somewhere around Greenland and face down on a sheet of ice.

He was so _stupid_ , he was finally getting somewhere and then he screwed it all up and Bunny probably hated him now. Or at least, he’d set them back. He was never going to get with Bunny like this.

He sighed and rolled over, staring up at the constellations in the sky. This sulking was getting him nowhere, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t seem to get over it. And he was going to have to face Bunny along with everyone else tomorrow.

He shot up from his pathetic blubbering. That’s it. He could talk to the other Guardians. Sandy was always super easy to find.

 

Jack sighed from his perch on Sandy’s roaming dreamcloud, sending periodic bursts of cold out to wherever seemed like it needed the extra push into Fall. His recent failures to get closer to Bunny kept playing in his head like a broken record, his complete and utter failure most prominent. All the books said the same thing: a setback like that can take months to come back from. He didn’t _want_ to wait months.

Sandy patted his shoulder, shaking him out of his stupor, a question mark forming above his concerned face.

“Nah, I’m fine, Sandy, just...thinking,” Jack put his own hand on top of Sandy’s and smiled.

The _weird_ part was that Bunny wasn’t being totally cold, though, he seemed to be interested, just didn’t do anything more than what they normally did.

Maybe he was just trying to take it slow in general, he clearly seemed to enjoy when Jack groomed him, maybe if things had kept going he would have reciprocated. With kissing.

Jack had spent far too much time lately thinking about all the missed kissing Bunny didn’t act on. So many missed opportunities.

Then there was that other thing Bunny had said…

“Hey Sandy?”

The Sandman startled awake from yet another nap, letting his dreams run themselves, and snapped around, sticking his face directly into Jack’s personal space. Causing Jack to fall off the cloud, screaming.

“What was that for, bro?” Jack only received a shrug and a few cryptic pictures of what looked like fireworks exploding in response.

“Well anyway, I actually had a question,” Jack continued as he flew back onto his spot. “Is Bunny really like a gazillion years old?”

Sandy lit up, literally, conjuring two arrows pointing at himself.

“Wait,” Jack hesitated, hoping he understood. “You’re a gazillion years old too?”

Sandy put his hands on his hips and nodded sagely, his eyes sliding shut in content.

“I knew you’d crashed on Earth, but I didn’t realize you were that old. Weren’t you like the last Guardian before me?”

A speeding dreamsand clock and several Z’s floated out and away.

“...You were _sleeping_? Why am I not surprised.”

Sandy laughed and patted Jack on the top of his head, earning a good-natured jab from Jack’s fist.

“Should I be calling you two ‘old man’, then?”

Sandy rolled his eyes before returning to his work, leaving Jack to fall back into sulking.

“Hey, can I ask you something else, Sandy?” earned him a nod and a ‘go on’ gesture.

“So, I did something today that upset Bunny? Do you think he’ll forgive me?”

Sandy gave Jack another of his beatific smiles, a series of signs flashing: ‘yes’ and a clock going backwards, which Jack was pretty sure meant something like ‘he already has’.

“You sure about that?” Jack scoffed.

Sandy nodded once, conjuring up a sand-bunny and sand-jack embracing each other.

“Yeah, I wish,” Jack sighed, resting his chin on his palm as he stared at the dream-hug.

A shooting star and a question mark.

“Nothing!” Jack turned away from the oblivious star, face icing over. “I just remembered I have to go...do something, bye!”

Luckily, Sandy wouldn’t get romance if you hit him with a wet dream.

Jack suddenly really hoped Bunny did. What if that was why, that Bunny didn’t even...feel those sorts of things?

Jack resolved to try one more time, before the meeting tomorrow, and possibly enlist some extra help and history about Bunny from North.

After all, they knew each other the longest, right?

 

Jack alighted on one of the high branches of the biggest tree in the Warren, high up enough that Bunny wouldn’t be able to sense or hear him.

Bunny was running around, picking up things from various hidey-holes in the grove below, shuffling through piles of weaponry that seemed to come out of nowhere and return to a simple patch of moss after Bunny had pulled out whatever he was looking for. He had just secured his bandolier around his back when Jack jumped down and struck, lightly brushing his hand along Bunny’s muscled back.

Bunny hissed and shivered, jumping forward just a bit. He took just a second to compose himself before shouting out, “Shouldn’t you be heading to the meeting, Frostbite?”

“I thought we could race!” Jack tried his best to look coy, fluttering his eyes just a bit as he forcibly got into Bunny’s space.

“Oooh? You lookin’ for another loss already?” Bunny smirked, brushing past Jack easily. Jack reached out and ran his fingers down Bunny’s spine as he passed, earning another shiver from the furry shoulders.

“Don’t bet on it, Cottontail,” Jack jumped up to whisper in Bunny’s ear before darting away again.

This was going to be fun.

“Then let’s go!” Bunny sprang forward from his upright position, catching Jack off guard as he disappeared into a tunnel, Jack barely managing to get through as well before it closed. Jack reached out to Bunny again, putting a bit more magical force behind it this time.

He left a lovely imprint of frost on the tips of Bunny’s fur right at the hip, admiring it a bit before Bunny suddenly stopped.

Jack continued on, momentarily confused before his whole body jolted down, Bunny’s weight smacking him into the ovoid wall and covering him in dirt as he rolled to the tunnel floor.

“Hey, unfair!” Jack laughed as he propped himself up in the hard soil, heart beating a mile a minute.

“You started it!” Bunny called back as he gained distance. Jack hoped Bunny would finish this.

The next time Jack went in for a frosting, Bunny twisted and grabbed onto him, sending them both into a tailspin through the air until bouncing off the ground three times. Jack couldn’t help but think there was a reason Bunny hit the ground instead of him each time, especially given how tight he held him, wrapped up in long arms and a tall chest.

They continued play-fighting all the way through the tunnel until Jack was covered in patches of dirt and Bunny was frosted all over. They tumbled out of the tunnel together on the ridge just outside of North’s workshop, rolling through the snow together until they finally stopped, Jack below Bunny in a very compromising position.

Jack sighed as he reveled in the feel of Bunny’s weight on top of him, his arms curling up above his head as he stared up into Bunny’s (beautiful, perfect, sparkling) eyes. He was so warm and so cold, his back pressed into a snowdrift, this was it. They’d played and chased and danced and now it was time. Jack’s breathing quickened as he relaxed his legs from where they’d fallen haphazardly.

“I guess we can call that one a draw,” Bunny laughed, and Jack’s eyes fluttered closed.

Then the warmth and fur pressed against him was gone, and Bunny’s voice seemed to call from miles away. “Frostbite? You just gonna lie in the snow all day?”

Anger and confusion suddenly boiled up in Jack, his eyes flashing cold blue. “What the fuck?” Jack snarled out, the clouds above coalescing into a storm.

“I think that’s my line, mate, what are you doing? Don’t make a blizzard right this second!” Bunny jumped back, hugging his arms close and chattering his teeth.

“But -!” Jack wanted to scream from the unfairness, he was supposed to be making out with Bunny right now, everything was going great, and then -! “We were - and you seemed to like it - and then you just got up?!” Jack took a deep breath through his nose, calming the storm above.

“What was I supposed to do? We have to go to the meeting, Jack. Why are you being so...odd?” Bunny put a hand to his head and shook it back and forth, his eyes scrunching closed as if trying to dispel a headache.

Jack deflated, frowning and staring at his hands as they gripped his staff. “I guess so…”

If it didn’t happen then, maybe...maybe it wasn’t going to happen.

Bunny hopped off to the front door, Jack drifting behind him, lost in his own thoughts. Did Bunny just not want to do anything more with him? He seemed so happy, Jack even let him know what he was doing so he shouldn’t be worried about that. But maybe he wasn’t explicit enough.

He face cooled down dramatically at the thought of being...more explicit with Bunny. No, he was much better at ‘pathetically hope your crush notices you’.

He realized only after Tooth gasping and checking all over his body with delicate hands that he and Bunny had walked in covered in dirt and frost respectively.

“You guys didn’t get into a fight, did you? Oh gosh, look at you!” Tooth hovered around the two of them, brushing dirt from Jack’s shoulders and teasing the cold out of Bunny’s fur.

“O’ course not! It was just a little bit of fun, right Frostbite?”

Jack stared longingly up at Bunny smiling down at him, until he saw Tooth’s face morph into a calculating look, getting control of himself and smiling too.

“Yeah, we were just doing...friend things. Because we’re friends. That’s all,” Jack internally screamed, doing his best to keep a straight, happy face up.

“Yes, yes, that is good, but we need to discuss! Halloween is in a few days, and then Christmas rush begins!” North broke up the three of them with his boisterous yelling, pulling them all into a big bear hug that managed to smush Bunny and Jack together harshly.

“Put me down, ya great big oaf!” Jack could feel Bunny shaking his fist even though that was physically impossible given his arms being pinned by North.

North laughed but acquiesced, gently placing the three creatures in his arms down, Tooth flittering up and pecking him on the cheek.

“C’mon, let’s get this over with,” Bunny had apparently decided to stalk into the meeting room, pointedly not looking at North.

“What’s up with him?” Jack ventured an opening question at North.

“Ah, the big bunny always gets cranky around this time of year. I blame lack of Christmas spirit!” North patted Jack on the shoulder, pushing him a little hard into the floor.

“You better watch it, North, or Hallows will find out about your plans for the extending the season,” Tooth tittered as she held onto North’s bicep. “He can, dare I say it, get _much_ crankier than Bunny.”

“Bah, the Turkey took just fine to Christmas, I’m sure we’ll get Hallow to come around eventually.”

Jack rolled his eyes at the two lovebirds, currently making kissy faces at each other as they too walked into the meeting room. As much as he loved White Christmases, it did seem a little extreme to start the festivities in October. Halloween was an important holiday too, after all! Plenty of pranks to pull and candy to be had.

Jack had grown more partial to chocolate-based holidays as of late, no relation to a certain one that revolved around said chocolates being egg-shaped.

Sandy was already napping in his usual spot next to the eggnog when Jack finally walked into the meeting room, Bunny crouched next to the fire and dripping from melting ice, Tooth basically sitting on North’s lap. Jack was totally not jealous.

He sort of tuned out the rest of the meeting, it having quickly devolved into Bunny and North arguing. Loudly. Usually Jack could at least hear the jokes but Bunny seemed genuinely angry this time. North, of course, did not notice this and continued to needle him.

“...but that’s neither here nor there, look, let’s just. Stop. Jack actually has something important to tell us,” Bunny snapped at North one last time before looking at Jack expectantly.

“Uh,” Jack stared at Bunny like a deer in headlights. “I do?”

“Don’cha? Yesterday, the reason ya came over.”

Jack’s whole body stiffened on his usual perch by the window. “But...you...isn’t that a little personal?”

“Look, if something dangerous is coming, I think we all need to know,” Bunny stalked toward Jack while gesturing toward the rest of the Guardians.

Jack stared. And stared. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Bunny grumbled and looked like he was face-palming. “I’m gonna go work on some chocolate recipes if you want to come over later, Sandy.” And he disappeared down a tunnel without another word.

 

“...Okay, it isn’t just me that thinks Bunny’s acting weird, right?” Jack broke the awkward silence that had fallen on the group.

“No, something is definitely going on there,” North said, pacing the front of the room.

“Say, you’ve been spending a lot of time with Bunny, haven’t you, Jack?” Tooth’s voice was surprisingly accusatory.

“Whoa, you don’t think _I’m_ the one making him act funny, do you?”

“Well, he did just get upset about something involving what you did yesterday,” Tooth continued, trying to look placating. “I’m not blaming you, it can be hard to deal with Bunny, but do you think anything you’ve done might have set him off?”

Jack paled. What it his fault? Shit, maybe Bunny was just stressed out because he kept flirting with him, but then why did he want Jack to tell everyone?

Sandy suddenly popped up between Jack and Tooth, rapid-fire signs appearing above his head.

Jack caught Bunny and eggs and...An old wizard-looking person, in between things that looked like random emoticons? As usual, Jack was the only one in the group who seemed to not fully grasp the English equivalent of what Sandy was saying.

“Oooh, gosh, do you think we should talk to him?” Tooth looked worried, flitting between North, Sandy and Jack in rapid succession, and Sandy responded by signing that he would talk to Bunny, since the rabbit had asked him to come over.

At least, Jack was pretty sure that was what he meant.

“Well, I need to head back to work now, but keep me posted about everything!” Tooth gave North one last kiss and hugged Jack before flying out the window with Sandy to their differing destinations.

Which left him with North. Jack took a calming breath and steeled himself to his second admission. “Hey, North?”

“Hmm?” North gazed at Jack with a still-intimidating intensity.

“I was actually hoping to maybe talk to you? About Bunny.”

“Of course! I always have time for friends, maybe we can figure out what is making the rabbit-man tick, yes?” North gestured for Jack to follow him.

 

As soon as they entered North’s private workshop, Jack bounded over and perched on the window seat, staring in trepidation out at the wintery landscape. North followed behind, ushering several wayward elves out of the room before picking up a plate towered high with various kinds and shapes of cookies.

“Care for any cookies?” North gestured the plate in Jack’s direction.

“Nah, I’m good,” Jack said with none of his usual laughter, pulling his legs up and hugging them to his chest.

North tossed the cookies to the side haphazardly, leaning against his worktable and said, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Okay, um,” Jack twisted around to look at North, glancing between the floor and North’s face several times before continuing, “You and Bunny are pretty close, yeah?”

“Oh yes, we have known each other for a long time! I have only been with Katherine and Ombric for longer, and, well…I do not see them as often as I would like,” North trailed off, tapping a tune reminiscent of _the Itsy Bitsy Spider_ along his desk.

“Sooo...has he ever, I dunno, been in a relationship?”

North’s face scrunched up in contemplation. “Where is that coming from?”

“Because I’ve been…flirting with him and he doesn’t seem to get it,” Jack said, frost whorling around him. North’s eyes bugged out, choking on the cookie he had been munching on, and he began to hack and cough.

“You have been _flirting_? With _Bunny_?” he managed to choke out through his coughs and laughter.

“Well I guess I should be glad _nobody_ noticed!” Jack vaulted up, making jazz hands and beginning to pace around the perimeter of the room.

“But – but why?” North finally managed to gain control of his laughing fit.

Jack glared at North, looking every bit the pouting teenager. “It’s not weird! So what if he’s a giant bunny, he’s also really nice and kind – “

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Jack! I am not thinking it is weird. I am just…curious,” North grabbed onto Jack’s shoulders and forcibly stopped his frantic pacing.

“Well then,” Jack pushed North’s hands away and took a single step back. “But…” his eyes darted around the room, refusing to look at North, whispering out, “It is kind of weird, isn’t it?”

North smiled fondly down at Jack, but didn’t initiate anymore physical contact, given Jack’s current penchant for skittishness. “It is not weird, my boy. And I can prove I mean it with my answer to your first question. Yes, Bunny has had relationship before.”

“Really? Who? How did it work?”

“Ah, I really do _not_ want to think about how it worked, to be honest. Do not let your father figure date your best friend.”

Jack gave North a pointed look. “But I mean like, how did they let Bunny _know_? That they were…interested?”

“It was…strange,” North said, slumping back into his chair. “I remember there were books involved…but have you tried cleaning his den?”

“What.”

“Cleaning his den! That is how the rabbits move in with each other in the wild!” North said with a twinkle in his eye.

“What, like the Warren? What would I even clean there?”

“No, no, Bunny has this big system of tunnels, more like house with huuuge egg museum in it! You should clean that, like wild rabbits do!” North made sweeping gestures with his hands to convey the scale of Bunny’s apparent house.

“Oh. Uh. How come he’s never mentioned or taken me there?”

North looked down and hummed. “That one...I do not know.”

“I just want him to – to _see_ me.”

“He does see you,” North scooted toward Jack, staring at him intently. “We all see you.”

“…Not like I want him to,” Jack turned away from North and strode toward the window. “I have to go think.”

And with that he threw open the glass and fell out into the snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out quite a bit longer than I originally planned but I didn't want to break it up until the next 'Jack gets TERRIBLE ADVICE' scene. Whoops.


	4. The Penny Drops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What exactly IS a Pooka? Jack sure doesn't know, and maybe he isn't supposed to.

“It’s really getting on my nerves!” Aster gestured wildly to the side with his stirring spoon, spraying chocolate on the dirt wall as he turned away from his latest chocolate batch and toward his floating, silently giggling guest. Sanderson shot up some conciliatory dreamsand signs, rolling a finished chocolate egg on the counter in front of him.

For being carved directly out of the earth, the room was a surprisingly perfect oblong shape, packed and weathered down to a smooth finish. The inside was furnished with shiny pastel counters, desks, and shelves, all holding bottles filled with plants, color, and tastes. Equipment was scattered about the room, all egg-shaped, and there was an overwhelming chocolate scent in the air.

“I just –“ Aster sighed, dragging a paw down his face. “I’ve really been tryin’, and I thought Jack and I had been getting along, but this? These past few weeks have just been…” he trailed off, grabbing a bottle filled with purple petals and pouring some into the chocolate vat.

Sandy, very helpfully, threw up some pictures saying, _Is he having a little bit of fun with you?_

“Doesn’t feel like he’s playing a joke or anythin’. By the Moon, I’ve worked really hard understanding humans, and nothin’ he’s doing makes _any_ sense. You know right before the meeting he just…exploded? Like he was angry, when a second before we were laughing and having fun! What do you make of that?”

Sandy shrugged, question marks floating aimlessly around Aster as he angrily experimented with his chocolate. Liquids and solids poured into the large vat, a rainbow of colors somehow always absorbing back to a delectable, deep shade of brown, until finally being poured into egg-shaped molds and set off to the side.

“And I can’t believe North would go and tell Jack about Courage Rites but then not explain they should only be used for imminent danger!”

_Is that why you were so mad at him at the meeting?_ Sandy signed while biting off a large chunk of chocolate.

Aster nodded, padding around the room and mindlessly cleaning things. “I know it was him, Tooth would have explained it better, and I probably should have just asked since Jack was already acting funny but…”

Sandy gestured with his hands for Aster to go on.

“And I’m angry at Jack too because who grooms someone and then _doesn’t have anything dangerous to report_?!”

Sandy looked pensive before throwing up a few shapes. _A human?_

“More like a human that only pays half attention to the things I say. _That’s_ how I know it was North talking Pooka with Jack.” Aster sighed as he hauled the pots with slowly congealing chocolate into a strange machine that spun them around until ejecting them, clean and good as new.

Several minutes passed with Aster staring at the solidifying chocolate molds, a far-away look in his eyes, turning them a darker shade of green. Sandy, used to his friend’s bouts of ignoring his conversation partners, briefly fell asleep, his sand sending good dreams out to the human world above Aster’s chocolaterie.

“…Maybe I should get off the chocolate.”

Sandy jolted awake, alarms bursting into life all around him, shaking furiously as he whipped around to grab Aster by the ruff and stare into his eyes, a deep frown on his diminutive face.

“Alrigh’, alright, I get ya! But…wouldn’t it be easier? If I could hear them again,” Aster looked down at his chest, unable to look his old friend in the eye.

Sanderson forced himself into Aster’s line of sight, emphatically shaking his head and Aster’s ears flattened. He stepped back, knocking into several scattered tables and the now-clean pot. “But if I could just hear what he was _thinking_ –“

Sandy slapped the side of Aster’s head with a huge conjured hand, sending him into darkness, the world of dreams.

_Katherine is crying, sadness and confusion and fear welling up inside of her, and he tries to help, to logically explain, but he somehow makes it worse, the fear is overwhelming, ringing in his mind and Katherine is thinking, thinking about Nightlight with worry and hope and its contradictory why can’t she just think clearly without these emotions -_

_North is quiet resentment piled up until they spill out from every passing thought, muddying his words and conversations in a sludge of things Aster doesn’t - can’t - understand -_

_She holds so much fear, and it is dangerous, doesn’t she know? But that’s the problem isn’t it - her fear, piled on top of the monster riding Kozmotis’ body, not of but for it and he doesn’t understand, it’s completely illogical -_

_Toothiana screams at him when he suggests the foolishness of her emotional attachments, but he only meant not to rage so much it’s so loud in his head please stop -_

_Ombric. Ombric Ombric Ombric, his mind getting softer and meeker and so much less he’s ruining him it’s his fault all Aster’s fault -_

Aster awoke with a start, claws digging into the ground underneath him, panting and keening, the Sandman scooting beside him to pat his shoulder.

“You didn’t need to do that, Sandy –“ Aster started, turning to stare into Sandy’s disapproving glare. “Okay, you probably did. But now you’ve _really_ done it to my sleep cycle.” Aster nudged Sandy away, sending him into a roll through the air where a sand-Jack and sand-Bunny formed, miming actually talking to each other. _It’s a surprisingly effective way to communicate!_

Aster scoffed and hopped to his feet. “Cheeky.”

 

It was over a week before Bunny felt the tell-tale icy wind blowing through his Warren again, scattering several of the parchment pages he’d covered in sketches earlier in the day.

He took a single deep breath as he gathered the papers, gripping them tightly at the edges as he felt Jack settle down behind him.

“Ummm….” Jack started and stopped, clearing his throat. “Hi?”

Bunny closed his eyes and tried to relax. “Hello, Jack.”

“I...I didn’t mean to upset you or anything with all this,” Jack knelt down by Bunny’s side, staring off at the ground.

“There’s really just one question I have.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you go to _North_ of all people to ask about me?”

Jack’s eyes widened. “You know about that?”

Bunny finally looked over at his tense companion. “Why didn’t you talk to me?”

Instead of opening up like Bunny expected, Jack seemed to wall his face off even more. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about your den egg museum?”

“...So he told you about that old place too?” Bunny looked away, gingerly putting up his art supplies.

“Is it like...a secret? Should I not know about it?” Jack sounded hurt and upset and _it was just some old tunnels why._

“I only ever use the confectionary anymore, to be honest. The rest is...the past. And I can’t go there anymore.”

“What?” Jack scooted closer to Bunny, looking like he was about to nudge his shoulder but backing away at the last moment. “You can’t just forget the past!”

“No, I mean I _literally_ can’t _go_ to the past. At the very least it would be rude of me,” Bunny gestured with his hands, trying to convey the gap between himself and time that now existed.

Jack went very quiet, staring at Bunny’s face, which was currently scrunched in exasperation.

“Nobody can _go_ to the past,” Jack finally said.

“We - I could!”

“But time travel is like. Impossible. I went to some lectures on it a couple years ago,” Jack nodded to himself as if that was the end of it.

“Frostbite,” Bunny grabbed Jack’s shoulder. “You do realize you _make snow_ and are talking to the _Easter Bunny_ , correct?”

Jack flushed. “That’s different! Somehow.”

Bunny gave off a little huffing laugh. “Magic really only has one fundamental law, you know.”

“Oooh, and what is that?”

Bunny stared out at the overgrowth, the trees and flowers and bushes, seeing something else entirely. “ **I believe, I believe, I believe**.”

The simple words sent a jolt through Jack’s body, like something clicked into place that wasn’t quite there before. He looked out and the world seemed...brighter, more colorful. The flowers danced in a glow of a shimmering color he had no name for.

“Whooooa, this is trippy.”

“This is magic,” Bunny leaned back onto the soft grass, stretching his back in an arc. “You’ve felt it before, haven’t you?”

Jack hummed and leaned back as well, some of his wound-up nervous energy dissipating. “Yeah. When I first woke up. Everything was so...amazing. For a little while, anyway.”

“...Do you want to see it? The Burrow,” Bunny changed subject, trying to steer away from the awkward subject of Jack’s rebirth.

“Sure!” Jack beamed up at Bunny.

“Follow me, then,” Bunny flipped over, scuttling on the ground on all fours for a few steps before getting up on his hind legs.

Bunny led Jack to a secluded part of the Warren, the branches from the trees creating a dense canopy that prevented most light from filtering down. Jack tripped over giant roots and randomly scattered rocks trying to keep up with Bunny, nimble as ever through the underbrush.

Then Jack smacked into a rocky wall, staggering back. It was so dark that he hadn’t even seen it. He felt his arm where it had hit the hard surface, a trickle of blood falling down from scratching against a particularly sharp stone that ripped straight through his hoodie.

“Watch out, I don’t keep this place up like I used to,” Bunny fell back beside him, hissing as his eyes fell on the scratch. “Ouch, here let me help.”

Jack’s cheeks frosted as Bunny held his hand, pushing the part of his hoodie away from his wound. His eyes seemed to glow as Jack’s wound pulled together and stopped bleeding.

“I always forget how dangerous it is round these parts. Stay close, yeah?” Bunny hopped a couple more feet down the rock wall and thumped it, opening a tunnel.

“Why was that so sharp?” Jack stepped into the new tunnel and gasped. It looked...different. It was bigger, for one, with odd-looking lanterns hanging from the curved walls, though most of them looked broken. And on the floor, running down the entire way, was a track. A train track.

“Eh, sometimes things get...a little out of control,” Bunny shrugged, starting to walk down the tracks. “C’mon, it’s a pretty long walk to Easter Island this way. I never bothered to fix the train.”

“So the tracks actually had a use then?”

“O’ course! Everything in these old tunnels had a use. I was pretty fussy back then.”

“Just back then?” Jack knocked into Bunny, grinning like a madman.

“Ya don’t even know, Jack. I’m surprised North actually held up his promise not to talk about that part at least.”

“...Why don’t you? Talk about it. What happened to this place?” Jack abruptly stopped, staring at a particularly mangled lantern.

Bunny hummed a bit, pausing to stare at Jack. “It’s complicated. And it doesn’t matter anymore. Things are different. _I’m_ different.”

Jack looked up into Bunny’s eyes. “How can you say it doesn’t matter? It’s your past! It’s why you’re here at all!”

“Because they’re dead, Jack! They’re all dead and I can never see them again!”

Jack stiffened as his face darkened. “My family’s dead too, y’know.”

“At least there are other humans, ya bloody wombat!”

Jack stepped back and gasped. “ _All_ the other giant rabbits?”

“Not ‘giant rabbits’. Pooka. All the Pooka - except - me,” Bunny’s voice cracked, his eyes shimmering.

Jack paled.

NOT giant rabbits.

His eyes went wide and he croaked out through a dry throat, “I have to go.”

He stumbled back, clutching his head and trying to find a way out.

Bunny apparently took pity on him because a tunnel suddenly opened in the ceiling, sunlight shining through, and Jack went for it, climbing out onto some random island in the Pacific. He turned back to look, but the hole was already closing. He only saw Bunny crash to his knees and a sob meet his ears before it was all gone.

“No,” Jack whispered, desperately digging into the sand. “No, I didn’t mean it, let me back in, let me help.” He collapsed on the beach, wiping his face with his sleeves desperately.

He had to get back. He had to get away. He flew toward India, the wind bending and careening around him.

Punjam Hy Loo was as busy as ever, streams of tooth fairies moving in and out of the upside-down castle as they filed and documented all the teeth of the world. He found Tooth herself in the middle of it all, directing the production with a clipped stream of consciousness.

“Tooth?” Jack called out, hovering in the air just outside Tooth’s spire.

“Oh! Hello Jack,” Tooth turned on a dime, flashing a huge smile his way. “How are you doing?”

“Not...super great? I _really_ fucked up this time.”

Tooth quickly darted forward and pulled Jack into a hug. “Oh no, honey, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think!”

“I kind of left Bunny crying in a tunnel,” Jack sighed, putting his forehead on Tooth’s shoulder.

“What did you _say_?” Tooth gasped as she lowered the two of them to the nearest veranda.

“I just - I thought I knew him, you know? But it turns out I don’t know anything! All these years and he’s never told me _anything_ ,” Jack coughed into his fist, pulling away from Tooth slightly.

“You know that’s not true, Jack! I’d venture to say you’re the closest to him now,” Tooth pressed into Jack’s personal space yet again.

“How come whenever you guys talk about the good old days, you get all mumbly around how Bunny joined the Guardians? Why didn’t anybody tell me what Bunny was? Why didn’t _Bunny_ tell me about his past?” Jack gave in to the pushy physical affection, finally returning Tooth’s hug.

“Because it hurts,” Tooth whispered. “And he asked us to. Honestly, I don’t think it’s healthy, but it’s what he wanted and we’re his friends.”

“What did he want?” Jack pulled away, arching an eyebrow.

“Everyone to forget what Pooka are. He was always secretive about it, but after he and Ombric...I think it got worse. The grief.”

“He said...that everyone was dead,” Jack’s face fell and he stared off at a rock on the ground far below. “He kind of...yelled it.”

Tooth placed a soft hand on Jack’s shoulder, hovering beside him on the edge of the circular platform. “You know how we sometimes talk about the Golden Age?”

“Yeah?”

“That was the end of it. Pitch tracked down and destroyed the Pooka. _I_ don’t even know how Bunny survived it all,” Tooth hugged her arms close, finally moving away from Jack’s personal bubble.

Silence fell over the two Guardians, mirror somber looks and downturned eyes as Jack took in what Tooth had said.

“I’m not supposed to know any of this, am I?” Jack finally asked, sliding down to the edge of the veranda, his legs dangling off into the open air.

“...No, but it isn’t right!” Tooth clenched her fist. “So the kids don’t know I’m a Sister of Flight either, but at least the spirit community does! Bunny is...so frustrating!”

Jack awkwardly sat there, rolling his staff along his thighs as Tooth ranted about how she’d lost everyone too and wasn’t moping and ignoring the past and why couldn’t Bunny just accept himself?

“...and ‘The Pooka likes to remain mysterious’ my feathered tush, he wouldn’t shut _up_ about it until after he and Ombric had their big fight and he completely shut down!” by this point Tooth was hovering in front of Jack, gesturing wildly with a crimson blush of anger across her face.

“What happened between them?”

Tooth jerked around, her eyes going wide. “I don’t...actually know. Just the aftermath; Ombric left and Bunny apologized to all of us and asked that we forget about the Pooka thing.”

“Wow, Bunny actually apologized for something?” Jack furrowed his brows, staring at Tooth with a smirk.

“I know, we were all quite shocked! Though he was actually quite different back then. Sometimes I think he doesn’t like to mention it because he’s embarrassed,” Tooth perched next to Jack, calming down a little from her annoyed rant. “That part is not unreasonable.”

“Well, I guess its good I figured this out before I tried to clean his house,” Jack poked Tooth with his elbow, a cheeky smile on his face.

“Oh my gosh, Jack, why would you even _do_ that!”

“North said I should give it a try. Because of...reasons.”

Tooth burst into laughter at that. “I can’t believe you were going to take advice from _North_ about _Bunny_.”

“North usually gives good advice!” Jack partially froze himself to the floor, embarrassed.

“He and Bunny have an interesting relationship to say the least, though. He’s more likely to play an elaborate joke on him through you than give a good idea!” Tooth giggled, then her demeanor suddenly became serious. “But really, don’t go snooping in Bunny’s stuff. I did that once and you know what I found?”

Jack thought in silence for a few seconds, but before he could begin to answer Tooth barreled on. “A Fearling! In a box! He just had it hanging around in his things.”

“What?” Jack gaped at Tooth.

“Yes, exactly! And then it took me weeks to convince him to kill it, and afterwards he held a funeral for it! A real, honest-to-goodness, funeral!”

Jack paled as he considered the implications of that statement.

He didn’t want to think about it anymore, so redirected the conversation. “Well what _do_ you think I should do now about Bunny, oh wise one?”

“Oh that’s easy!” Tooth clapped her hands excitedly. “Talk to him.”

“That isn’t easy,” Jack deadpanned.

Tooth looked Jack up and down as if appraising him. “Maybe talk to him without bolting when things get emotional. It kinda sounded like you were halfway there in getting _him_ to tell you about this stuff.”

“So I just let him yell at me?”

“Noooo,” Tooth drawled out the single syllable into a seconds-long noise. “I didn’t say ‘push him’, I said ‘talk to him’.”

“And that will magically protect me from him blowing up?” Jack cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow.

“I was serious before, Jack,” Tooth reached out and placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder once again. “Bunny’s opened up to you in ways he hasn’t for decades, possibly centuries. He actually _enjoys_ you helping with Easter, for goodness’ sake! I think it would be good for him to open up about this too.”

“You have a lot of faith in someone who’s been screwing it all up for a few months.”

“I have faith in _you_ , Jack. If you were really screwing up your friendship with Bunny, you wouldn’t have found out enough to talk to me about him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally Jack was actually supposed to start cleaning Bunny's old place before the not bunny thing clicked, but they decided they really wanted to blow up at each other much earlier.  
> Characters, right? :P


End file.
